ORGANISED criminal gangs, armed thugs and anti-social behaviour will be targeted across the west of Scotland as part of a major six-month campaign.

Operation Myriad will see every division in Strathclyde Police take part in an intense month of action in a bid to reduce crime at every level.

The blitz is a roll out of Operation Neptune, which was launched last year. Neptune ran again in April of this year, in the north and east of Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire.

As reported in the Evening Times, Neptune combined high-profile policing with intelligence-led operations and is credited for helping cut serious assaults by almost 34% and robbery by almost 35%.

Operation Myriad was launched today by Assistant Chief Constable Bernie Higgins. Mr Higgins said the project, which has taken three months to plan, was about tackling "those people who cause the most harm in our communities".

He said: "What we're doing is having focused periods of activity in every area of the force until the end of March.

"Every area is different. What works for one division might not work for another so we are devising specific policing plans and working with our partners, like HMRC, the DVLA and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.

"It's about detecting the offenders who cause the most harm, it's also about increasing the public's confidence in what we do to show it's us who control the streets.

"It can range from the young man who is intent on carrying a knife right through to the serious and organised crime group which is importing drugs – we are out to get them.

"Violent crime has fallen by 26% so far this year, and anti-social behaviour is down 22%. We need to keep building on this so we will be realigning all our resources.

"We are a force of 3500 police officers, we will be using our officers from headquarters, our gang taskforce, our marine unit, as well as detectives in other specialist roles, to target specialist areas and undertake operations."

The first area to be targeted is B Division, which runs from Maryhill in the north, to Baillieston and Easterhouse in the east.

In the coming weeks South Lanarkshire will become the focus and over the following months every area, from the South Side of Glasgow to West Dunbartonshire will be at the forefront."

rachel.loxton@ heraldandtimes.co.uk